The Other Ending
by David N. Brown
Summary: A story of what could have happened after Veronica's dinner. Updated with a correction.
1. After Dinner

**I'm not going to be saying much about this, but I will say that I have a complete draft of this story, and the rating is for themes rather than content. I will also credit the one-shot "No Silver Lining" for coming up with the same starting point.**

"So," Dr. Patel said, "tell me about your dinner with Ronnie and Veronica." When Pat was silent, he pressed, "Your parents were very concerned. I am told your friends were concerned. They said that you left the dinner early, but came home very late. They were also concerned about another person, Tiffany."

"Yeah. Tiffany," Pat said. "She's Veronica's sister. She's a slut."

"That is a very harsh thing to say about a woman," Dr. Patel said. "You have talked to me about trying to learn to be more empathetic, and to avoid saying things that are hurtful. So why would you say this about Tiffany?"

"Tiffany says she's a slut," Pat said. "She said, `I used to be the biggest slut, and I like that about myself.'"

"So she used the past tense," Dr. Patel said, "and you use the present. Perhaps we should back up..."

Pat told him about the dinner. "It was obviously Veronica's idea of a set-up," he said. "You know, I went on a few dates with her before she got together with Ronnie? That's why she hates me. She tried to set me up with her sister to keep me from getting back together with Nikki."

"Pat, we have discussed this," Dr. Patel said. "I will not presume to tell you what may or may not happen with your... with Nikki. But for now, you are _both_ under a restraining order. If you try to contact Nikki, you will not only get yourself into trouble, you may get her into trouble as well. You don't want that, do you?"

"No," Pat said. "I don't want to hurt Nikki."

"That is good. That is a good step," Dr. Patel said. "Now, let's talk about Veronica. Did you consider that she might still care about you, and be concerned about your desire to make contact with Nikki when you are legally forbidden to? `Setting you up' might be her idea of protecting you, and Nikki as well."

"Maybe," Pat said, "but where does she get off trying to set me up with Tiffany? She's not the kind of person I want to be associated with. I can't let Nikki think I'm associated with her kind of behavior. If I could just write a letter to Nikki to explain everything..."

"There, you say that again," Dr. Patel said. "Why do you say that? What happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened! I walked Tiffany home, just to be nice, you know, a gentleman. Nikki always said I needed to be more of a gentleman. Then Tiffany says, I quote, my room is completely separate from the house, so there's no danger of anyone walking in on us. I hate that you wore a jersey to dinner, but I saw how you were looking at me. You can come in and- make love- as long as you turn the lights out. End quote, not in those words."

"I see," Patel said. "That must have been very difficult for you, especially since it sounds like you find Tiffany very attractive. You are clearly conflicted in your feelings. Reuniting with Nikki has been your hope for your future, a `happy ending' as you put it, and a powerful motivation to improve yourself. Now Tiffany is offering you the possibility of a happy and healthy future without Nikki, and your priorities and values are in doubt."

"Happy and healthy? Didn't you hear what I just told you? She's crazy, like a nymphomaniac or something!"

"She may or may not be," Patel said, "but it sounds to me as if she simply tried to reciprocate what she thought you felt, so you would value her."

"Uh-uh, Doc!" said Pat. "There were no signals! There's no doubt! I'm not losing my happy ending with Nikki because Tiffany's a big slut!"

"Pat," Dr. Patel said, "did you say yes?"

There was a long, long silence.

"I need to get a letter to Nikki," Pat said. "I can explain everything..."

Pat made a dozen furtive glances as he ran past Tiffany's house, yet he was caught completely by surprise when Tiffany came up alongside him. "Pat," she said, "I think we need to talk, about last week." He ran faster, making several turns, but then she was right there again.

"I'd like us to be friends, Pat," she said. "I thought, we could do something for each other without it complicating things. Maybe do it on a regular basis, just as friends helping each other out. You know, casual. I'm sorry if I was wrong."

"Wrong?! I'm married!" he shouted. He held out his ring. "You made me cheat on Nikki!"

"`Made you'? I didn't notice you complaining! Besides, she cheated on you."

"Two wrongs don't make a right. And I told you, I'm married!"

"I'm married too!" Tiffany answered, holding out her own ring. "It's something in common!"

"That's different, Tommy's dead!" They both froze in their tracks

"Then what is the difference?" Tiffany retorted. "It seems to me, she's more gone for you than Tommy is for me. I lost Tommy, but Nikki left you, she left you to rot in the hospital and went to court to force you to stay away from her. She filed for a divorce, Pat, don't you know that?" Pat started to jog, allowing Tiffany to keep pace with him. "Where are we going?"

"What do you mean, where are you going?"

"I'm jogging with you, Pat! Where are you going?"

They were, in fact, headed down Tiffany's driveway.


	2. Casual Days

**I'll say a little by way of introduction again: Some of what Pat says here is inspired by conversations I had a long time ago, and it really did go in this direction.**

"So, do you wish to talk about what is happening with Tiffany?" Dr. Patel said.

Pat shrugged. "I don't know what to say. Ever since I made love to her, she keeps coming to me for more. She wants to run with me, she wants to talk, and she wants me to keep making love to her. She says it's casual."

"So you are continuing to have physical relations with her?"

"Yeah," Pat said. "Um. A lot. And I do it the way she likes it, which really isn't my kind of thing. I mean, there's a lot of things we don't do, like kissing, because it's casual. But she likes to go to all these different places, mostly around where we run, and there's people around... Really, I'd never do anything like this on my own, but I like her, and she likes me, and a guy isn't supposed to say no."

Dr. Patel gave him a thoughtful look. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that as a man, you have no responsibility to control yourself?"

"No, no, I'm talking about chivalry," Pat said. "It's like the Sadie Hawkins dance. Any other dance, a guy asks the girl, and she can take him or leave him, because a guy is supposed to _win _the girl, and it wouldn't be fair to just say yes because there's nobody better. But if you're a guy and a girl asks you out, you always say yes to the first offer, even if there's somebody else you'd rather go with. Same if a girl wants to go steady. Back in middle school, I talked with the guys about it, and we all agreed, if you know a girl likes you, and you aren't already with someone else, you _have _to at least give her a shot."

"But what if you would rather pursue a girl that you `like'?" said Dr. Patel. "And how is it fair to the other girl to reciprocate her interest only out of a sense of obligation? You agree that it would be demeaning for a guy; why wouldn't she feel the same way? Is that what you are doing with Tiffany? "

"Whoa, Doc, that's not her deal," Pat said. "The first thing she told me about being casual is that it means we can be together, but we don't have to stay together. "

"I see," Dr. Patel said. "So, you don't think it is possible that she is really seeking a monogamous, emotionally intimate relationship, but using her insistence on `casual' as defense against admitting, even to herself, that she is moving on from her first marriage? What would you say if she said she wanted to move from `casual' to a committed relationship?"

"Well, that's not going to happen, because I'm still married to Nikki," Pat said. "We talked about it. I can be with Tiffany, because it's apart time, but only until Nikki decides that's over."

Dr. Patel glanced pointedly at Pat's hand. "You are not wearing your ring, Pat."

"Well... Tiffany and I talked about that. She told me, I shouldn't wear my ring when I'm with her. I thought it was weird for her to say that when she still wears her first husband's ring, but I didn't say that because I'm being a good guy. Then I got to thinking, Nikki used to say I was too dependent on her, and that was smothering her. So,maybe the reason she wants apart time to make me learn to take care of myself again. If I prove to her that I can live my life like she isn't in the picture, then she might think about taking me back, or at least lift the restraining order so we can talk. So now, I'm just carrying the ring in my back pocket, just until apart time ends."

"Let me ask you another question," Dr. Patel said. "What if Nikki were to meet with you, and she told you that you should be with Tiffany instead- even marry her?"

"Weeellll... that would be her choice to make," Pat said. "Like I've been saying, it's okay for a woman to make the choices. If Nikki wanted me back, of course I'd go back to her. If she didn't, then yeah, I'd be with Tiffany, if she wanted that. Those are the only things a good guy could do."

"Let's go back to your physical relationship with Tiffany," Dr. Patel said. "Are you using protection? That is your responsibility as well as hers."

"She told me she got herself tested for diseases a while ago, and she hasn't been with any guys since," Pat said. "She says she wants to be casual with me, and just me, because she could tell I'm a good guy, and she wouldn't have to worry about that stuff. And babies, well, we didn't really talk about it the first time. As soon as we talked about making it a regular thing, I said, I'd do my part if she wanted, and help out for anything she needed, but she told me that was taken care of. She said to me, `You aren't going to get me pregnant, Pat', and I could tell she was telling the truth. Sure, maybe I could have asked a few questions, but if I'm going to be a good guy, I have to trust her at some point, right?"

"True, and I believe you can trust Tiffany. There is something else, Pat," Dr. Patel said. "How you relate to Tiffany does not only affect the two of you. It also affects your friends and family, and how they feel will affect you in turn. Both of your families are becoming concerned. In fact, they have contacted the police, and me. What I gather is that what you call the `casual' nature of your relationship is especially alarming to them. They could be more understanding if they believed you were in a `serious' dating relationship."

"That's a good idea," Pat said. "I'll ask Tiffany to go out to the diner we pass on our runs. We can tell people we're just eating together as friends, and if they don't believe us, they will just think we don't want to say we're together. And then, if Nikki hears that I'm moving forward, maybe she'll end apart time and I can see her again..."


	3. Dinner Date

"You look nice," Pat said as they walked into the diner. "I'm not saying that to flirt, because this isn't a date." He ordered raisin bran. "See, raisin bran. If anyone sees us, they'll know we aren't on a date. Nobody orders raisin bran on a date."

"Right, it can't be a date if you have raisin bran," Tiffany said. "Nobody's going to think, maybe he's on a date, because who would order raisin bran for dinner unless he was trying to make it look like he's not on a date. And there's no way anyone's going to stop and ask, why does that weird guy who ordered raisin bran keep saying he isn't on a date, unless he's on a date? " She steepled her hands and watched him eat.

"Why are you watching me eat?" Pat said. "That's weird."

"Yeah, that's me, the weirdo watching the guy who's eating raisin bran at 8 on Halloween night." She helped herself to a bite of cereal.

"Can we be casual and eat from the same bowl of cereal?" Pat said. "When I put my spoon in my mouth and put it back, and you put the spoon in your mouth and put it back, it's like drinking out of the same glass, and that's like kissing, and you said `casual' means no kissing."

Tiffany plunged her spoon in for another bite. "I'll chance it."

"You know, I wouldn't mind being on a date with you," Pat said. "It's just, I've got my problems, and you've got yours, and I just can't be associated with you that way... I mean, it's not that I have a problem, it's just that there's a lot of other people who wouldn't like it, and they really could do something to mess us up. Like my Dad, he doesn't think I should be spending time with you at all, and I have to live under his roof, and there's... some of my friends... who say I should be careful. I'm worried about Dr. Timbers, too, he'd love an excuse to put me back in the bad place, and Nikki... She'd totally freak out if she found out about you. Especially after the things you've told me."

"Yeah, that would totally freak her out," Tiffany said. For a moment, her eyes bored into him with a searingly cold stare. Then she composed herself in a half-smile. "Hey, Pat, there's something I've been thinking I should probably tell you. Remember when I told you not to worry about _getting_ me pregnant...?"

Pat took another bite before it sunk in. "Wow, I've never seen a guy do an actual spit take," Tiffany said. She helped dab with a napkin. "And to answer your questions, yes, I'm sure, and yes, it's been the whole time."

Pat took a sip of water. "Okay, here's what we do," he said. "I'll marry you. Like. Right away."

"Right. That always solves everything."

"Hey, I know that's a big step, and it's not what you were looking for," Pat said, "but just think about it. It's not just the honorable thing for me to do, it's like, this whole thing is some kinda sign from God. I mean, damn, just the one time, and with you..."

"Yeah," Tiffany said, twiddling her fingers, "judging from my track record, I'm pretty much invincible."

"All right, we can make that work. Even my Dad will get on board with that..." Pat covered his mouth and furrowed his brows. "But it won't work. I'm already married. I think I'm still married."

"Yeah, we should check on that."

Pat gazed into Tiffany's eyes. "Okay, Tiffany, I know I'm not the best person to be making these decisions on my own. What is it you want to do?"

"To be honest, I'd still rather be casual," she said. "Like you said, getting married is a big step. I think we should wait until we have some more time to get to know each other, and get more comfortable with each other. We could try laying off the sex, and find some things to do together. Like, I could try teaching you to dance, and maybe you could even be my partner for a recital."

"That's a great idea," Pat said, with a smile that made Tiffany want to scream. "Nikki always said we should learn to dance together. She would love it if I learned how to dance... I'll write a letter to Nikki. I'll ask her to meet with me, we can all meet and then we can sort this all out... I just need to get a letter to Nikki."

She sighed. "I can get a letter to Nikki..."

Pat nodded as Tiffany spun a tale. "That's a great idea... You're right, she can just write back... We can hold off meeting until she's ready... I'm sure Nikki will understand..."

"Yes, I'm sure everything will go fine," Tiffany said. "There's one more thing... since I am doing you a big favor... Could you sleep with me tonight?" Pat blinked. "I mean, would you come to my place, and... actually sleep."


	4. Pillow Talk

**I've ended up doing an overhaul of my draft, just to make it flow more naturally to the ending I had in mind to start with. For this particular chapter, I had to make significant changes, but what I consider the essential moments have been here all along and remain unchanged. **

A single light illuminated Tiffany's apartment. A couch was stretched out as a hideabed, and Tiffany and Pat lay together, dressed in workout clothes. Tiffany stretched out on top, her whole body rising and falling with the heaving of his chest. "Thank you for doing this," Tiffany said. "I actually haven't done this since Tommy and I were together. I think it's what I need right now. We can do this, and still be casual."

Pat nodded. "But it's better if people don't know, because they'd start asking questions about everything else," he said. "My parents are going to ask where I was all night. I can tell them I walked you home, and then crashed on the couch. It wouldn't really be lying."

"I would have asked you to stay, even if I didn't want this," Tiffany said. "I mean, Halloween night, after 10 PM, I wouldn't want anybody to walk all that way alone." She pressed closer, nuzzling his neck.

"Hey, did you just kiss me?" he said. Tiffany murmured something noncommital. He started to sit up. "You told me, casual, no kissing."

"I'm trying to get you to relax, crazy," she said. "I like it when you get excited, but seriously, you're making me seasick here."

"Okay... I'll relax... relax," Pat said. Tiffany closed her eyes.

"Stop that," she said. Pat was feeling her midriff, which her sports bra top left bare.

"I'm just feeling for the bump."

"You're poking me. And there is no bump, I'm only at six weeks. Oh, and when I do get a bump, I'm going to start breaking arms if people try to feel me up."

Pat moved his hands and started rubbing her shoulder instead. She sighed, and soon shut her eyes. "Are you asleep?" Pat asked.

"Let's think about this logically," Tiffany said without opening her eyes. "There are two mutually exclusive states: Asleep, and answering the question `Are you asleep?' Which one do you think I want?"

"Okay," Pat said. "Do you want me to go to sleep?"

"I want you to be quiet," Tiffany muttered. "Tommy was always quiet."

"Okay... being quiet."

"Let's review the logic again. There's being quiet... and there's saying you're being quiet."

"I can't sleep," Pat said after a while. "I keep thinking about Nikki." Tiffany groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. "Oh, oh no, I don't mean like that. It's just, I still get nervous with you, because you keep touching me in ways I'm not used to anybody but Nikki touching me. Then that gets me thinking, maybe this was how she felt when she really cheated on me. I think I understand her better now. I can tell her, I know it isn't easy. I should tell her that when I write her the letter for you to give her. I should go home and start writing it..." He started to sit up.

Tiffany smacked him in the face with the pillow. "You are killing me, Pat," she said. "I know you're way behind the curve on knowing when to keep your mouth shut, but I didn't think I would need to tell you, as long as you are here in my bed, you are not going to say _anything_ about Nikki! What do you think you are going to tell her, anyway, Pat? `I got another woman pregnant. How are you?'"

"Tiffany, I understand how you feel," Pat said. "You want to be part of my life, and you're going to be, but you can't be selfish. I made a commitment to Nikki. We're still married. I need to see Nikki again, so we can sort things out. You said you could help..."

"Oh my god," Tiffany said. She squeezed her nose like there was a bad smell. "God, I _am_ crazier than you. I actually thought you could get a clue! Don't you get it? Do you have any idea how to deal with any woman? Listen to me, Pat: You and Nikki are done. _Forever_. She will never take you back, she will never see her again, I don't want you to see her again, and I would _never_ help you make contact with her even if it wasn't breaking the law!_"_

"But... we talked about this," Pat said. "You offered..."

"I lied, Pat! I lied to get you in bed! Women lie, Pat, and guess what- a lot of us like having a guy in bed!" Tiffany was already shouting, and quickly made her way up to screaming: "And as long as we're jumping on stupid things we've said to each other, let's talk about what you said about me at the diner? You said you can't let people think you're associated with me! `Especially after the things you've told me!' That's what you had to say after you spent a month enjoying everything I gave you: You turn around, and you judge me, and you push me away, and the worst part is, it's not even because of how you feel, but because you're afraid of what other people will think about you! That's not even using me like a whore, Pat; that's acting like my friend and then throwing me under the bus! You're a _traitor_, Pat; you're a hypocrite, and a conformist, and a coward!"

"But you wanted to... You said it was casual, and it was okay..." Pat retreated down the stairs under a barrage of his own clothes.

Tiffany shouted, in a voice reduced to a hoarse yell. "Forget casual! Forget the baby! Forget my help! _Forget me! _That's what you want isn't it? Oh, and in case you need a clue- _GET OUT!_"

"Tiffany, please!" Pat said, scrambling to gather his clothes. "I'm sorry I hurt you, and I'll go if you want me to, but I can't walk out the door unless I'm sure you're going to be okay!" He advanced after Tiffany, reaching after her as she retreated. "You sound like you want to do something bad! Please, just call Veronica! She can help you, maybe come over, she can even have Ronnie drive me home!" Then Tiffany came at him, slapping and scratching, and when he caught hold of her wrists, she started to scream.

"You're harassing me! You're assaulting me!" Pat let go of her, and she ran to the window and threw it open. "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HE'S-" It was obvious from the sounds and lights that the neighborhood was already thoroughly roused, but they were both taken offguard when they heard a knock at the door.


	5. Neighborhood Watching

**After writing the first draft of this chapter, I decided to repurpose the material for the first part of "Siren Song".**

Pat and Tiffany both hurriedly dressed, while the knocking became insistent pounding. "This is Officer Keogh!" shouted the newcomer. "Pat Solitano, are you in there?"

Pat looked out the window. "Holy crap, there's a crowd!" he said. Tiffany hustled down to get the door, when Pat caught her by the arm. She whirled about, ready to scream really good and loud, until she realized she was wearing only a sports bra for her top. Pat solved the problem by pulling off his jersey and putting it on her. She had the presence of mind to pull it off and get it right side out.

A chorus of whoops, cheers and whistles rose as Tiffany opened the door. The crowd was no better or worse than she had expected, a score or so of nosy neighbors, little punks and general purpose creeps. "Yes, officer," she said, "what's the problem?"

"Well, it's funny," Officer Keogh said. "I got a call a while ago asking me to look for Pat Solitano because he hasn't come home tonight. For some reason, somebody said I should check this house. And then, right when I'm on my way, we get a bunch of calls about a possible domestic disturbance- in this house."

Pat stepped into view, and there was a chorus of whoops and whistles even louder than before. His eyes locked on a college kid; it was the same guy who had been coming to his parents' house, and he had his camera out. Several more of the punks were evidently his friends, laughing and joking as they pointed at Pat. Pat thought unbidden of the mob of Puritans in _Scarlet Letter_. He wanted to pound his hand on his forehead, but made do with brushing back his hair.

"This is Tiffany," Pat said. "We had dinner together tonight, and I walked her home. She said, I should stay here for the night, in case there were people up to no good out and about." He looked meaningfully out at the crowd, and a few looked a little uneasy.

"Tiffany; you're Tommy's widow, right?" Officer Keogh said. He stepped into the doorway and lowered his voice, but the punks laughed and hollered. "Do you know there's a restraining order out on this guy?" Tiffany nodded curtly. "Then did he tell you he's a mental patient? Do you understand that, Mr. Solitano? Getting out of the hospital doesn't mean you can go anywhere you want. You have to remain under your court-appointed caretakers' supervision, which means you stay at your parents' house. Now, why don't you both tell me, what's the real deal?"

Pat stepped in. "We're... She's my girlfriend, officer. We've been keeping a low profile, because of my situation. We were out late, talking about what we wanted to do, and she asked me to spend the night here so I wouldn't have to walk home by myself and she wouldn't have to be alone. Then we talked some more, we were just talking, but we were too tired, and we ended up in an argument. I was about to go, so we could both cool off. But she didn't do anything wrong. Actually, the fight was my fault."

Officer Keogh looked at Tiffany. "Is that what you'd say?"

"No," Tiffany said. "It wasn't his fault. I got angry at him for something he didn't understand. Actually, anything the neighbors heard was probably me. And... I wouldn't say he's my boyfriend. He proposed tonight. I didn't say yes, which was why we got loud, but I haven't said no."

Officer Keogh looked at Pat, who looked at Tiffany, who nodded. "All right, it's not my job to sort this out," said the officer. "I'm going to give you both a warning for noise. Pat, you are going to have to come with me, but all that has to show in your record is that you accepted a ride home. Tiffany..." He looked her over. "Take care."

Pat followed Officer Keogh to the curb, glancing over his shoulder at Tiffany. Then he heard it. The Song. It came from a boombox one of the punks was carrying. He was clearly a friend of the kid with the camera, and he gave the kid a smile and a nudge, though the kid himself was obviously upset. Pat halted. His forehead was itching intensely. Officer Keogh reached for his arm, saying something that was no more than a buzz in Pat's ears. The only thing in his mind was The Song... and then, unexpectedly, Tiffany's voice.

"It's a song," she said. She gripped his shoulders and turned him around, angling him away from the camera. "It's just a song. You can't let it be a monster." He shook his head. Tears were rising in his eyes, and his left temple felt like it was under attack by a swarm of fire ants. Officer Keogh was glaring at the punks, who made a show of innocent ignorance. Tiffany pressed her hands to the side of his face.

"Pat, listen to me. Not the song," she said. "Pat... My answer's yes." And when Pat heard that, it seemed like there was no other sound in the world.


	6. The Big Move

**This is material I was planning to divide up into several chapters, but I hadn't settled on just how to do it and finally decided it worked well enough as a single unit. It also introduces a major interest of my own, folklore and mythology. The stuff here is new to the rewrite, but it's foreshadowing something that's been in here since the first draft. If this sounds cute, be prepared to be surprised...**

It was three days before Pat made his way to Tiffany's house again. When she didn't answer, he went to the door of her parents' house. Her father threatened to have him arrested, but her mother interceded. Pat walked away, and he went about a block before Tiffany was at his side. "My parents are threatening to throw me out of my house if I see you again," she said. "Von's trying to help, but she says she thinks it's probably best for both of us if we break it off. How are things at your place?"

"My Dad thinks we should give the baby away," Pat said. "He doesn't want me to see you, either. He says we're both too crazy to be good for each other. I... I wasn't expecting that. But Mom... well, she says I shouldn't marry you this soon, but she does want me to keep spending time with you, so we can decide."

"Yeah, your Mom's cool," Tiffany said.

"I have the letter for Nikki," Pat said. "I told her we need to finalize the divorce so I can marry you."

"That's good," Tiffany said. She took the envelope and put it in her jacket. "I'll get it to her as soon as I can."

"That's okay," Pat said. "Hey, when did this happen?" They were holding hands.

"What do you mean, I thought you were doing it... It is nice." Tiffany smiled. "I still want to take a break from the sex. If you're okay with it."

Pat nodded. "It's okay," he said. He grinned. "Honestly... I think I need it." Tiffany punched him in the arm.

"Pat," Tiffany said, "I think I understand you better now. When we met, I couldn't understand how you could still want Nikki. But then I thought about me and Tommy. I still love Tommy, and I still think of myself as Tommy's wife. I even pretend I'm back with Tommy when I'm with other guys... yeah, including you, and I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings. Everyone tells me, he's gone, but it never feels like he's gone. That's how it is with you and Nikki, right?"

"Yes," Pat said. "But we can still live our lives, and help each other, which is what you're about."

Tiffany stopped and gently extricated her hand from his. "Pat, I'm going to give you something," she said. She slipped Tommy's ring from her finger. "I want you to have this. It's my past. You're my future. Take care of it."

"Tiffany..." Pat took her hand again, and placed the ring in her palm. "You can give me that letter back." She handed back the envelope. "I'm going to keep this, Tiffany. I don't really need to send her a letter about the divorce, because she already has a lawyer to handle it, and I can get a lawyer, too. My parents offered to help me get a lawyer when it started, but I turned them down, and it was really because I was in denial that the divorce was happening."

Tiffany nodded and smiled. "I already talked to Veronica, about that," she said, without taking her eyes from Tommy's ring. "She says she could take care of it, pro bono."

"It would be so great if she could do that," Pat said. "Once the divorce is done, we can get married, and maybe Nikki will lift the restraining order, because she will see that I have moved on. Then, if I still want to write to her, it won't be such a big deal. But I would let you deliver it. Would you do that for me, Tiffany?"

"Yes," she said as she returned the sparking rock to her finger, "why not?"

The next day, Pat returned from his run, surprised and disappointed to have done it alone. He went up to the attic, and then cried out in surprise. Tiffany was stretched out on his bed, reading one of his books. "My dad changed the locks while I was out with Von," she said. "I told her to drop me off over here. Your mom let me in, and Patricio's pretending I don't exist. So Pat, what's with these books?" The thick volume in her hand was the collected Fairy Books of Andrew Lang. A stack of similar books next to the bed that was higher than the mattress.

"I've been reading fairy tales," Pat said. "I was thinking, I'd like to read fairy stories to our kids, so I wanted to practice. So I got all these books, and looked for the best fairy tales. I like the older ones better. I think it's because they're from back when real people really believed in fairies. "

"Well, I'll tell you two things up front," Tiffany said. "First off, just because you knocked me up, doesn't mean you're going to do it again. Second, I'm not letting you read this stuff to my little girl. It's way too dark."

"What do you mean?" Pat said. "It's fairy tales. Little girls love fairy tales. Not that we know we're having a girl. Fairy tales are great, because they all have happy endings. "

"They also have death, dismemberment, monsters, black magic, not to mention sex... Now that gets pretty hot, if you read between the lines... And some of them don't even have a happy ending. Not that the happy endings are much less fucked up. Like Sleeping Beauty, what kind of kink is gonna happen in that bedroom? Then there's these fairies. They aren't cute little guys with wings, they're like the ultimate bitches and jocks. They're beautiful, they're powerful, and it turns out they'll tear you a new one soon as say hello."

"Well, of course, there's stuff that's bad and scary," Pat said. He deposited himself on the bed, with his head alongside Tiffany's feet. "Even the good fairies can be pretty terrifying, because they're powerful, and they usually can't use their power without a price. But that's something kids can learn from. The stories show that a hero can't just wait for a happy ending to come to him. He has to suffer, he has to make hard choices that aren't always right, and he may have to sacrifice things that he never gets back. What the stories really show kids is that life will always be hard, and good things never come easy, and you have to do your best and hope for the best even when you don't know what's going to happen. I've been wondering if maybe the reason kids love fairy tales is because they can handle that kind of message better than adults think they can. And then, maybe the reason adults don't like the real fairy stories is because they're the ones who can't handle it."

"Wow, Pat, that's pretty profound," Tiffany said. "Now what's this?" She held up a sheaf of notebook paper, marked to the point of near-illegibility with notes, corrections and whole sentences that had been crossed out. "Were you actually trying to write your own fairy tale?"

"Hey... that's not ready," Pat said. "Please give me that. Come on, give it to me!" Tiffany giggled as they wrestled for the papers.

"I can hear you two," came Patricio's voice. Pat groaned, and Tiffany covered her face. "If I hear any more, I'm coming up there with an ice bucket." Tiffany was turning purple with stifled laughter.

"Okay, Tiffany," Pat said, "if you give me those papers back, I'll tell you about my story. It will make more sense." Tiffany gave him the papers and retreated to the chair, still shaking with bottled-up laughter. "So, once upon a time, there was a knight who loved the Queen of the Fairies. But the Queen didn't love him, though she cared for him and wanted the best for him, and so she hid herself from him..."

Tiffany's laughter literally shook the rafters. "Maybe she should have taken out a restraining order!" she said.

It took scarcely three days for Tiffany to ensconce herself in the Solitano household. She joined Pat in the attic, and Patricio was placated when Pat set up his sleeping bag on the floor. She also reorganized his things, quickly forcing him to admit that it was better, and began repeating the process for other rooms in the house. She asked to help Dolores in the kitchen and soon was able to do all the special recipes herself. She discussed Eagles juju deadpan with Patricio, easily convincing him that her time with Pat was good luck for the Eagles. When Jake and Ronnie came over, she soon won over Pat's brother as well, though her brother-in-law was clearly resistant to her spells. They spent much time together with the family, and the pair enjoyed each others' company even more with the family. But they had alone time in the days in the basement, practicing dance moves in Pat's gym, and at night in the attic, and Pat was proud that they hardly had sex at all, because he was learning to control himself even when Tiffany tested him.

On the fourth morning, Pat watched Tiffany change clothes, because she wanted him to appreciate her while practicing self-control. Then they went down to the basement for practice, starting with a ritual he called "sitting in the crazy": Before they started practicing, they put on a random song in the boombox, and then sat facing each other by the floor. Pat always studied her face, thinking how beautiful her eyes were. "Stop staring," she said. "You're weird."

"You're beautiful, and I want to marry you," he said, managing not to smirk. "It's not weird to look at you."

"You're still weird," Tiffany said, and she did smirk.

Tiffany had signed them up to perform together at a dance recital for a mental-health charity, and much of their practice time was spent on the Big Move. Pat was nervous, because it took a lot of concentration to do the Big Move, and it was easy to get distracted, and Tiffany was getting mad because he dropped her a lot. Then there was the one time when he fell down on top of her and pulled all her clothes off. He was feeling bad about that, because he had lost control of himself and he hadn't even asked her if she was okay. Today, as he knelt and she went back for a running start, he thought of her face when they were sitting in the crazy, and he made the catch, holding her with her crotch awfully close to his face.

"Pat,"Tiffany said, "have you done anything else with your story?"

He was happy because he had made the catch, but he still needed to lift her. It was hard, because he had to put his hands down _there, _and that was when he got distracted. "A bit," he said. He got a grip as he stood up, and thought about how beautiful her eyes were. "I don't know where I want to go with it. I mean, the knight should win the Fairy Queen, obviously, but I don't know how that should happen, and sometimes I wonder if that's really the best way for it to end."

He got her up high enough to swing around and put a leg over his shoulder. "I have an idea about that," she said as he lifted her higher. "Maybe there should be another, regular woman, like a princess, who wants the knight to marry her, but he turns her down. So then the knight would have to choose between the woman he loves and the woman who loves him."

"I like that," Pat said. As she approached the peak of the lift, she leaned forward, which wasn't in the Big Move but was necessary so she didn't hit her head on the ceiling. That was when he had the most trouble keeping her balanced, and sometimes- like now- she started to get wobbly for no apparent reason. Still, he was doing it, he was going to do it- and then he heard the door open.

Pat tried to shift to face the door and explain what they were doing. But Tiffany hit her head, and then Tiffany dropped straight down on his head, and he went down. After a moment of confusion, he found himself flat on his back with Tiffany's backside on his face. Over the ringing in his ears, he heard Patricio say, "Modern dance, my-" Then the door shut.

"Tiffany," he said, "are you okay?"

"I just hit my head on the ceiling, got dropped on my butt and hit my head again on your rowing machine," Tiffany said. "Does that sound okay?"

Pat tried to sit up, and Tiffany scooted off his face. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He looked as the mark on her forehead. "I told you, we really can't practice that stuff in here. There isn't enough room to run or jump around, and it's too easy to fall on one of those machines. We need to get back to your place."

"Von says I should be able to come home in the next day or so," Tiffany said the next day. "And, we got a letter from Nikki. Sort of. Her lawyer sent this yesterday." She handed Pat a full-sized legal envelope. "You can read it aloud, if you want."

Pat was oddly reserved as he opened the envelope. "`Dear Mr. Patrick Alfredo Solitano, Junior...' Why do letters from lawyers say `dear', especially when they go ahead and print your full name? `Enclosed are all pertinent records of your divorce proceedings... In summary, the petition of my client was granted as uncontested. All joint assets were awarded by default judgment.' I guess that means she got all my money."

"Yeah, that's why when people tell you to get a lawyer, you should probably listen," Tiffany said.

"I would have given it to her," Pat said with a shrug. "`A joint restraining order was also put in effect, on the basis of petitions by my client and Patrick A. Solitano, Sr. as representative on your behalf. The terms of this order include a stipulation against the exchange of personal information between yourself and my client. At the time, you gave your signature acknowledging this fact along with other terms of your settlement.' There's a date... It's right about when I went into the bad place."

He lowered the paper. "I remember, I signed something," Pat said. "There were a lot of things I signed, but for this one, my mom, and Dad, and Jake, and Dr. Timbers were all there saying it was really important. They... they said, that signing it meant I knew what was going on, and that was really important because if I didn't it would look like I didn't know what was real, Dr. Timbers might keep me in the bad place. So I signed it, because I had to get out to see Nikki again." The letter slipped from his hands, and he sat down again. After a moment, he started shuffling through the other papers.

"This..." He pointed to a date on the last and earliest sheet. "This was before I even did the bad thing they put me in the bad place for. Like, more than two months before. You know, I bet this was even before she started seeing that jerk history teacher. Dad said she might be together with him, which bugs me because I know he'd never be any good to her. But now I'm sure that didn't happen. She wouldn't have let him near her, except she was unhappy. She wanted a divorce, and she felt like she couldn't even tell me. Why didn't she talk to me? Did she think I wouldn't let her go? Was she afraid of me?..."

Tiffany kissed him on the lips. "You know what this means," she said. "You never cheated on Nikki. By the time you were with me, she already moved on. You don't need anything from her to move on with me. And right now, I'm going to let you do anything with me, or for me, or to me that you want, because I love you, and I am so done with casual!"

"Anything I want," Pat said. Tiffany nodded. "Anything I want..."

He ran out of the house without shutting the door behind him.


	7. The Message

"Pat!" his brother Jake shouted. "What the hell happened? What did you do?"

"It's complicated," he said, and poured himself another beer from the Asian Invasion's keg.

"Yeah? How is it complicated?" All eyes turned to the woman in the too-large jersey, standing at the entrance to the tent. She held out a six-pack in either hand. "You knocked me up, your old man dragged you to the courthouse and we got hitched. Now who wants these?"

A cheer rose up, and Jake said, "My brother got whipped!"

"I'm not whipped," he said, "I got you to come to an Eagles game."

"`Got', nothing," Tiffany said. "I'm here to protect my investment. Not to mention, Patricio says I'm your luck."

Pat took her in his lap and kissed her. "Tiffany, I told you what happened," he whispered in her ear. "You showed me that I had been chasing something that had already passed me by. You offered me a future that's more than I could have imagined... I just couldn't take it in. I had to go. And you know where I went. You found me."

"Talking to my mom and dad..." Tiffany grinned and kissed him, and he pressed his lips to her opal wedding ring.

"You know, Tiffany, I had a new idea for my fairy tale," Pat said. "I was thinking, maybe something like Sleeping Beauty. Only, it's the hero who ends up asleep, and his lady has to wake him up..."

"Gee, that sounds familiar," Tiffany said. "Does he get locked in his father's attic?..."

After a little light cuddling in the midst of moderate teasing, Tiffany said, "When are you going to do it, Pat?" She looked up as Jake tried to hustle past unnoticed, and called out, "Hey, Jake, did you know your brother hasn't said he loves me yet?"

Jake stopped, and other heads turned. "Hey, that's not cool, bro," Jake said, and there was a chorus of agreement.

"You gotta tell your wife you love her," Ronnie said. "Even when she's a total witch. No, make that _especially_ when she's a total witch."

"You need to learn to express your feelings, Pat," said Dr. Patel.

"Hey... hey now," Pat said, "c'mon, of course I say it, I've said it lots of times. Watch." He lowered his head, over Tiffany's mild and giggling protests, and kissed her midriff. "I love you."

"Are you saying that to her, or the baby?" Dr. Patel questioned.

"I can mean her," Pat said defensively. "I can mean them both. You always say, don't jump to conclusions."

Tiffany pushed a beer in her husband's mouth. "Then if I say I love your rear end," she said, "I could mean I love you." There were whoops, whistles and whipping noises, and the couple decided to excuse themselves.

Pat and Tiffany walked around for a while, and were debating between going back to the tent or looking for somewhere marginally private when they heard the fight start. Pat looked back to see a band of miscreants overturning the Asian Invasion's tables. He drew back, until he saw Jake take a punch. "Hey, NOT MY BROTHER!" He started forward, when Tiffany caught him by the arm.

"No, Pat," she said. "They'll send you to the bad place, Pat!" He nodded, fighting for self-control. Even as he stood there, someone split off from the miscreants and headed straight for him. Pat tried to put himself in front of Tiffany, but she stepped forward. Pat covered his mouth. "Oh my god..."

Tiffany looked back over her shoulder. "Now, how about you let me handle this?" She skipped into the fray, and he stared after her, wincing with every blow. By then, the police were descending, and his view was obscured. He started to withdraw, when Officer Keogh suddenly came right up to him.

"Officer, I didn't do anything, honest," he said.

"Pat Solitano," Officer Keogh said, "is this your wife?" Then Tiffany came into view, supporting Jake and Dr. Patel, completely unscathed herself.

"You know I'm the reason the Eagles beat the Giants," Tiffany told Patricio on returning home. "Without me, Jake would have been thrown out of the game, and who knows what Pat would have gotten himself into. Instead, we all got in, because nobody wants to talk about being beaten up by a pregnant lady, and the Eagles won."

"She's making a lot of sense," Jake said.

Pat Sr. swigged and raised his bottle in a toast. "I can't say I'm happy with the way this went down," he said, "but this girl is the one, Junior. If you manage to lose this one, I'm hunting you down, Junior!"

"No, you won't," Tiffany said. "I'm getting to him first."

It was the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the day, the hour and the minute of Pat and Tiffany's big performance at a charity dance recital had arrived. "Introducing," the announcer said, "Pat and Tiffany Solitano!"

Pat and Tiffany came on, the essence of solemnity paired with sheer exuberance. She danced rings around him, while he moved slowly yet gracefully, like a priest worshiping a goddess. At the end, he did the Big Move like she was holy offering to the heavens. She stretched out tall and straight as he turned her in a circle, confidently displaying the swell in her midriff. Wild applause broke out, even from fellow competitors who had made a show of pointing fingers down their throat.

After they walked home, Pat said, "Listen... I have something..." Tiffany stared. "Please, Tiffany. It's important." She held it up like a used diaper. It was an envelope marked, "To Nikki."

Dear Nikki,

I know that you are with another man, and I am now remarried, to Von's sister. Tiffany is a wonderful wife, we are having a baby and I think I am learning to love her. But I am unsure and afraid, and sometimes I still miss you. I get nervous when Tiffany touches me the way you used to, and sometimes I feel angry because she lied to me and still wears Tommy's ring instead of mine and sometimes she calls me Tommy when I am loving her. When I try to talk to her about Tommy she says I'm a hypocrite because I still carry your wedding ring. I feel like the only thing that will make it better is to see you again. All I ask is for you to come and meet me in person, at the park where we used to hang out between classes, and I proposed, on Christmas Day at sunset. I will be there, because I believe in miracles, and I trust God will send you because you are the miracle I need.

Pat

The weeks leading up to Christmas were a time of nearly continuous activity in the Solitano household, and Tiffany put herself at the center of it. On Christmas Day, everyone from both their families was there, and many friends, even Donny. Pat spent much of his time with Von and Ronnie's little girl Em, and after she unwrapped his gift of a stuffed eagle, Tiffany joined in the play. Em laughed as Tiffany made cawing sounds and buzzed her with the eagle. "Pippamy," Em said. "Pap an Pippamy." Then she poked Tiffany's modest bump. "Bay bee?"

"That's right," said Tiffany, and snuggled Em while Dolores took a photo.

"Wheh Pap?" said Em.

It was only early afternoon, but the sky was already darkening, thanks to a somber gray blanket of cloud. It was a nimbostratus, the kind that smothered the sun and brought down rain and snow without even the silver linings Pat loved. He hadn't gone half a block when he stopped. He reached into his pocket, and took out a folded-up piece of paper from his back pocket. Once again, he read the words...

Pat,

I will not come to see you on Christmas Day. I will not come to see you ever. You will always be a part of me, but you are my past. I have moved on, and one of my greatest hopes has been that you would too, even if I could not be there to see it. When I received your letter, I thought my hopes had been fulfilled. Think of what you told me, Pat! You are married, with your families' blessings. You have found someone who makes you happy, and can understand your problems. You are going to be a father! Yet, you tell me you must see me, on the very day you should be with your family, especially the woman who will have your baby.

I understand what you are going through, Pat. I did not have the courage to tell you how I felt, and so I ran to a sleazy lawyer and a jerk history teacher. I regret that, more than leaving you and even more than cheating on you. There have been times when I have wanted nothing more than to face you the way I should have when we were married. But that would not change what really happened, and it will not help either of us go on to better lives. I cannot undo my mistake, Pat. But you can make things right by learning from me. Don't run away from the people you care about. Whatever the problems are that make you feel you need me, go tell them to Tiffany. If it's me reading the signs, she will forgive you and help you, better than I ever could have.

Please, Pat, let me go.

Nikki

A light snowfall dampened the typed page, and mixed with the moist tears on Pat's cheeks. He looked over his shoulder at the bright decorations of the house. For a moment, he started to turn back.

Then he ran full speed into the descending veil of snow.


	8. Holding On

It was already dark, and very cold, and it was not so much snowing as showering ice. Pat shivered as the sleet pelted him. He felt ashamed, because he had skipped out on the Christmas celebrations, and his mother was making a nice dinner, and the Eagles game was on. He hoped that everyone would stay home instead of looking for him.

He smelled perfume, Nikki's perfume, and looked up, smiling. It wasn't Nikki. "What the fuck, Pat," Tiffany said, throwing herself down on the grass. "Never mind ditching me, and your family, on Christmas. Are you actually that stupid?"

"What?" Pat said. "Where's Nikki? I sent her my letter..."

"No you didn't," Tiffany said. Pat looked at her in total incomprehension. She groaned. "Do I have to spell this out? I _told_ you I would never contact Nikki. At all. I didn't. I read your letter, and I faked a reply from Nikki, just to tell you to let this go. Besides, did you think Nikki would actually come if you told her I'm having your baby, and you _think_ you love me now, but you still _need _to see her? Whatever the hell you wanted with Nikki, it was never going to happen. But I'm here, because I love you and I don't have a whole hell of a lot of options, so what are you going to do?"

Pat was silent. "Look, I'll even talk first! I haven't really thought about Tommy in more than a month. I could tell you to the second when I stopped! We were all tangled up on the floor of your gym, and we didn't even talk, and I looked at the clock and right then the minute hand went to 8:46. But I still like getting a little of that jealous vibe from you, and I really thought you knew that. But then I started to feel bad for using him and you that way, I started to feel guilty getting over him, and I started to miss missing him. That was when I started wearing this ring again, so I would remember what I used to have."

She leaned closer. "I covered for you, Pat. I said you told me you were out for a run, which they knew was BS, and then I said to Von that we should go out to the fancy store out here for pickled artichoke hearts. She drove me up here, and I told her I was meeting you here. I'm sure everyone else we snuck back to my place, or some fleabag motel. If we start back now, we can be back home in time to see the end of the Cowboys game- the Eagles already scored, Pat!- and we even got the stupid artichokes. Or, Von can drop us off at this motel where I already called in, she'll tell everyone you wanted to stay and watch the game on TV- I'd believe it!- and we'll take the train home tomorrow. Everyone will understand. Please, Pat! Just think about what's best."

Pat was thinking. There was a part of his mind thinking him that in his heart, he had seen through the ruse all along, and he had come here merely to tip Tiffany's hand. But there was another part of his mind telling him that Tiffany had lied to him, and made a fool of him, and used him, that even the baby was just part of her scheme to trap him, and why should he take the pretty little liar's word it was even his... He couldn't handle it. So, he got up and ran. He ran and ran, faster and faster, further and further from Tiffany, so he wouldn't do the things he _really_ wanted to do to her. He ran and ran, until a crowbar across the knees stopped him.

Tiffany caught up, just as the huddle of scuffling figures got down to business taking what they wanted. "Leave him alone!" she shouted impulsively. She ran right up on sheer adrenaline, before basic survival kicked in. She shed her outer coat, making sure that they could see she was fit, and pregnant. "He's my husband. I'm the reason he's here. Take what you want, just leave him alone."

There were three of them, and two looked ready to run. But one stepped forward and drew a gun. "We'll let him go. Just give us what you've got."

Another thug protested, "Dude, whathefuck, she's prego!"

"Better listen to him," Tiffany said. "Way I hear, messin with a pregnant lady's worse'n messin with a kid. Word gets out about shit like that, the fuzz ain't even gonna have to look for you. They ain't gonna find you neither."

"No messin' with you," said the thug with the gun. "Just give me that rock." He pointed to Tommy's diamond ring.

"No," Tiffany said, crossing her arms a little protectively. A siren sounded in the near distance. "And give his back. Both of them."

"C'mon, man," said another thug. "It's a couple lousy bands! Give 'em back and let's go."

"He's makin' a lotta sense," Tiffany said. "Couple plain bands, you'd be lucky to get one benjamin."

Suddenly, the thug with the gun pulled away from his companions. He strode right up to Tiffany and thrust the muzzle of the gun right against her scalp. She could easily have tried to disarm him, but decided it was safer and ultimately more intimidating to stand her ground. "You got no leverage, brotha," she said. "Pull that trigger, you might as well put the next bullet in your own head." The thug backed off, keeping the gun on her. Tiffany said nothing. Just then, another thug grabbed for the gun.

A shot rang through the park.

Pat awoke at the echoes of a gunshot, and the sound of retreating feet. He turned his head, and glimpsed three figures running away. It looked like two of them were chasing the first, closing in as they all disappeared from sight, and there were sounds of loud cursing and heavy blows. He tried to rise, or at least sit up, but there was a terrible pain in his leg, and some kind of pressure on his chest. He tried to raise his head, and met unexpected resistance. Twisting his neck, he saw a head of dark hair, and the profile of the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

"Tiffany," he said. She was nestled under his left arm, her face pressed against his shoulder and the bump of her abdomen nestled under the swell of his chest. He felt a wetness on his chest. "Tiffany?"

She opened her eyes. "Pat," she said. She tilted back her head without lifting her face from his chest. There was a sound and sensation like sticky tape being unpeeled. "I need you, Pat. I need you so fuckin bad."

He heard shouts, and a pounding of approaching feet. He pulled Tiffany closer, letting her nuzzle his neck while he kissed her scalp. "I think I need you too," he said. She smiled and closed her eyes, while a spreading warmth melted the snow under Pat's shoulder. Then the pounding feet became a thunder, and Pat heard shouts for paramedics, and a woman, he was sure it was Von, screaming. He leaned back and closed his eyes. His arm stayed tight around Tiffany, right until the paramedics rolled her over and called for a helicopter.


	9. Waiting Room

**I'll say one thing for the record: I thought of several scenarios for the last chapter and this one. I went with the one I found LEAST unpleasant.**

Pat roused himself at the smell of perfume. "Nikki," he said. It was her, sure enough, but not as he remembered her and always would, from the photo he still kept tucked away. She looked older, more so than time alone could account for, and less beautiful in the ways he had thought her beautiful, yet it seemed to him there was a new kind of beauty just starting to peek through. She sat down in a seat next to his wheel chair, and they both turned their eyes to Tiffany, resting perfectly still in the hospital bed.

"They say the baby's okay," Pat said, his voice not much louder than the sound of the life-support machines. "It's a girl, by the way. They're going to keep Tiffany going as long as she needs to to come to term. If she doesn't wake up first." He ran his hands across his face, and then leaned back, resting one arm on the cast that encased his leg.

Nikki stroked his shoulder, and he only tensed a little. "Veronica told me about the two of you. I was happy for both of you." Silent minutes passed. "What happened, Pat?"

Pat wheeled around, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "If you're asking, then you're really asking why," he said. "Well, the way things happened, I never felt like we really broke up. We never talked about what went wrong, we never said goodbye, and then there was the restraining order... Not being able to see you made me feel more like you were still a part of me, and all the things people did to get me to accept that you were gone just made me want to reach for you more. I got stuck. I got so I couldn't even give myself a good reason _why_ I wanted to do it, but that didn't matter. I still felt like there was something meant to be between us, even if I didn't understand what it was, and the only way to set things right was to see you, even just once... If you had been there... even once..."

Nikki reached out and clasped his hand, briefly. "I'm here now," she said. "I wanted to be there for you then, too. When I heard how you were in the hospital, I asked if it would help if I came and talked to you. But the doctors said no, and your family cut me off from getting any more information about you."

Pat  
nodded, and wheeled to Tiffany's side. She was heartbreakingly unmarred; one could hardly even see the bandages under her bangs. "Did we ever have a chance?" he said, without looking up from his wife's face.

"No," Nikki said, "but we had them. I gave you five years of chances, Pat. I kept waiting, and hoping, because I loved you, and because I knew you _could _change. Even when I was sure the right thing was to go, I stayed, just so I would be there when it happened. Eventually, I just got tired of waiting."

Pat looked into Nikki's eyes, nodded, and then looked back at Tiffany. "Thank you for telling me that, Nikki," he said as he stroked Tiffany's face. "I think I needed to hear that. Maybe I was meant to hear it. It makes sense of us, and I think it helps me understand her. She couldn't wait for me either. But she was willing to do something about it."

"Pat," Nikki said, "if Tiffany doesn't wake up... what happens after she has the baby?"

Pat leaned forward and rested his head on Tiffany's belly. "Officially, it's the baby on the machines," he said. "Tiffany signed a living will, a while ago, saying she was not to be put on long-term life support. I talked to her about changing that, but I guess she never did. The baby gave us a technicality to argue, and nobody really wanted to fight. But If the baby is delivered, while she's still... asleep... we have to honor the original terms of the will." He rolled back to Nikki's side.

"Pat... Your family asked me to come here," Nikki said. "They asked me here because they say you're hurt yourself, and you aren't letting the doctors help you. They say you're skipping physical therapy, even delaying procedures, so you can stay here with Tiffany."

"I have to be here," he said. "When she wakes up, I need to be here. She will wake up. I believe that."

"I know you do," Nikki said. "I'm not going to tell you you could be wrong. I'm not even going to say she might not get better even if she does wake up. But I want you to think about this. That woman there seduced you, lied to you, offered to break the law for you, married you, and faced three muggers for you, just to get you out of the rut that losing me put you in. How do you think she would feel if she woke up and found out that you spent the whole time sitting on your butt?"

"You're right," Pat said. He rolled back to the bed, and used the side railing to raise himself precipitously from the chair. Nikki ran to his side to steady him, and then grabbed a pair of crutches. "She's probably going to need help. She might not be able to walk... right away. I'll need to be back in shape to help her. And then, sooner or later... she's going to want to dance again. Did you know I learned to dance?"

Nikki nodded, and smiled. She moved to Pat's side. "Tiffany, guess what, I've had my reunion with Nikki," Pat whispered. "It turns out I just needed to talk, and she wanted to talk, too. And she wants you to know she's happy that you are here for me now." He raised Tiffany's hand for Nikki, and she nervously took it. Then she stifled a cry of surprise when Tiffany seemed to squeeze back. "She does that, sometimes. The doctors say it could be reflex."

Then Nikki put her arms around Pat, and he returned the embrace. "Thank you," he whispered. "Now go. I'll be fine. The best thing you gave me was learning how to wait in hope. Now I'm waiting for the right thing."


	10. The Fairy Tale's Ending

Pat entered Tiffany's room, without the aid of his crutches or the encumbrance of his cast, carrying a vase of roses. He set the vase on the table, seated himself, and leaned forward to rest his head on the swell of Tiffany's abdomen, which was getting large indeed . "Hello, my girl," he said. "Your mom and I haven't decided what to name you yet, and I don't want to make that decision without her, so I'll just call you my girl. Today, my girl, I'm going to read you a fairy tale. I wrote it myself, and I spent a lot of time trying to get it just right. So, here's the story of the Knight, the Lady and the Fairy Queen."

He raised a sheet of paper and started to read. "Once upon a time, there was a brave knight. He was strong, and brave, and he did many great deeds, but he wasn't that smart. Actually, he was pretty dumb. He even said no when a beautiful lady offered her hand to him, when everyone knew a good knight should say yes, even if it wasn't a very ladylike thing for her to do. But the lady still loved him, and she helped him as much as she could. She held celebrations when he came back in victory, and she tended to his wounds when he came back defeated. She even helped him in a quest to win another Lady- not just any lady, but the Fairy Queen."

He shifted his head to rest more comfortably. "The knight had loved the Fairy Queen since he was a young squire. He had gone out with his lord and a band of knights to fight a fierce dragon. It was a terrible battle, and in the end, only he was left to face the wounded dragon with his master's sword. But by his courage, he stood his ground as the dragon charged, and just as the dragon threw back its head to devour him, he drove the blade into its open mouth Even in death, the dragon wounded his arm with its poisonous tail, and he would have perished, but for the Fairy Queen. She watched the battle, and she was so moved by the squire's valor that she came to him and with her own hands she bandaged his wounds and poured into his mouth the elixir that would cure the dragon's sting.

"The Fairy Queen wished only to save the brave squire's life, but when he beheld the Queen's immortal beauty, he thought he could not live unless he had her for his lady. So he devoted himself to becoming the greatest of all knights, and at every chance, he sought for the Fairy Queen, though she fled from him. Then the lady who loved the knight learned of a secret place where the Queen feasted with her subjects. To show her love for the knight, she told him the place, and then begged him not to go. But he went forth, and burst into the Queen's feast.

"At last, the Queen was truly angry, and she cast a spell upon the knight to put him to sleep forever, and decreed that he should be taken to the Forbidden Castle, which was surrounded by a forest of poisonous thorns, and guarded by an army of goblins and a dragon greater than the one that had almost slain the knight. But then the lady came forth, confessed to telling of the Fairies' gathering place, and begged the Queen to let him go, even to punish the lady in his place. So the Fairy Queen lifted her spell and cast it on the lady instead."

Pat wiped a tear from his eye and continued, only glancing intermittently at the paper. "The knight awoke not knowing what had happened, and returned to his castle. At first, he did not miss the lady, and he pressed on with his quests, even his quest to find the Fairy Queen. But without the lady to help him, he was lost. Twice, he failed, and once he nearly died. Then the Fairy Queen came to him, and told him what had become of the lady. When he learned what the lady had done for him, he knew at once that he loved her, and begged the Fairy Queen to release her, even to let him take her place. Then the queen told him that there was one hope: That, if he could win his way to the Forbidden Castle, and place true love's kiss on the lady's lips, the spell might be broken."

By then, Pat had his eyes closed. "Then the knight made for the Forbidden Castle, and he showed more courage and might and devotion than he ever had. And the Fairy Queen herself gave him aid: A magic salve to protect him from the poison of the thorns, an enchanted Fairy sword, and a magic rope to scale the walls of the Forbidden Castle. With the salve and the sword, he hacked a path through the thorns, and the goblins who came forth to oppose him fell or fled in terror. The magic rope lifted itself to the top of the Castle's unclimbable wall, and the knight climbed up quickly, hoping that by stealth and speed, he could avoid the dragon. But when he reached the top, he found the dragon waiting in ambush. He knew he was doomed, and cried out that he had always loved his lady. Then, just when it seemed all was lost, the Fairy Queen appeared and cast a spell of blindness on the dragon, and the knight drove home the mortal blow."

Pat turned his head to gaze at Tiffany. "At last, the knight made his way to his lady, and placed true love's kiss upon her lips." He sat up to give Tiffany a kiss. "But the lady did not awake. For days, the knight wandered despondent in the corridors of the Forbidden Castle, wondering why the Fairy Queen's promise had failed. Then he remembered that the Queen had not promised that the first kiss should break the spell, only that a kiss might break the spell. So he returned to his lady, and kissed her again. When she did not awake, he sat beside her, telling her of the quests he had won because of her help, of the times she had feasted with him at her table and the times she had tended him at his bedside, and always of his regret that he had not appreciated her before.

"And every day, the knight kissed her, and told her the stories, and he found that each day he loved her more. But he did not speak of his love for her, because he waited for the day when his love would be great enough to waken the lady, so that she would hear him proclaim that he loved her. And then they would live... not happily ever after, but doing their best to make each other happy, one day at a time."

He kissed Tiffany's belly. "I'm sorry if that wasn't very good, my girl. I know a lot of the other grownups would say, it's not a good fairy tale. They'd probably tell me the dragons are too scary, and the Fairy Queen's too mean because fairies are supposed to be nice. Then they would definitely say the ending's all wrong, because the lady should wake up and live happily ever, because that's the way fairy tales are supposed to end." He wiped a tear from his eye.

"But I think grownups only say that because they don't know the old stories- that, or they don't like what they're really about. In those stories, the real fairy stories, there's always bad along with the good. There's so much that's wrong and frightening, so much loss and doubt, that sometimes you wonder if there's going to be a happy ending at all. And sometimes... there isn't. That's right. _Even fairy tales don't always have happy endings._

"You have to learn that, my girl, because this world is going to break your heart, that's guaranteed, and I won't always be with you. You're going to have to be tough, or they will crush you flat, but you can't get so hard you forget how to hope, or they're going to bury you alive. But if you're anything like your mother and just enough like me, I think you'll turn out all right. And you're going to love fairy tales, because hope is what they're all about."

He planted one last kiss. "I love you, my girl. Sleep tight," he said. Then he took a rose from the vase and leaned over to whisper in Tiffany's ear: "I'm going now, because I know you don't want me here all the time. But I'll be back, as often as it takes, and I know, when you do wake up, I will be here. Because I believe in miracles, and I know... If I could wake up, then you can too." Then he kissed her on the lips, and laid the rose upon her chest

When the attendant came, she shook her head, and took the rose. Then she bandaged the wounds where Tiffany's fingers had hung on to the thorny stem.


	11. Epilogue

**I'm posting this chapter to admit and apologize for a fairly epic screwup: Long story short, if you tried reading this story in the last few days and were badly confused because one chapter seemed to have nothing to do with the others, it's because I accidentally replaced one with a chapter from a different story. This has been remedied. The moral is, use preview when you update, and clean up "document manager". I'm NOT going to admit to being at all unhappy with the ending I wrote for this story, but as long as I'm doing this, I decided to go ahead and post one more thing, strictly as one more "what if"...**

A baby's cry filled the room, soft but persistent. Two masked med techs were waiting with an incubator cart, but they consented to let Pat and then Tiffany's mother hold her, briefly. "It's a girl," Pat said, clasping Tiffany's hand. "Her name's Mary... I remembered you said you liked that name... and her middle name's Jasmine, after Donnie's aunt." He squeezed, but her hand stayed limp.

Veronica withdrew, weeping, and most of the family followed. But Tiffany's parents stayed by her side, her mother weeping on her knees, and Patricio moved to Pat's side. Pat only gazed into Tiffany's eyes, his face jarringly composed, even blank. At last, Patricio put a gentle arm around his son and said, "It's time." Pat nodded, but did not let go of Tiffany's hand.

Two more med techs came in, and Tiffany's father escorted her mother away. "Tiffany, I'm sorry I didn't stay with you on Christmas day," Pat said, leaning forward. "And I'm sorry I didn't let you hear this a lot sooner, but I'm going to say it now... I love you. I loved you the moment I met you, I just needed to catch up." He kissed her, just as the sound of the big machine stopped. There was only the sound of the monitor, a long steady "beeee-"

Pat straightened and started to withdraw, when he met with a sudden, unaccountable resistance. He looked to see Tiffany's hand gripping his wrist. The monitor started to beep, and at virtually the same instant, Tiffany said, "You love me?" Her voice was like a frog with laryngitis, but to Pat it was like a chorus of angels.

Patricio bolted from the room, shouting praises and profanity in the same breath. There was a veritable stampede through the door, which became a pileup as the foremost froze in their tracks. Tiffany was lying still, her eyes closed.

Pat looked up, with tears in his eyes. "What," he said, "she just had a baby. Can't she get some rest?"

On the third day, Tiffany got up to see Mary Jasmine. The months had not been kind. She was pale, and weak, with visible scars under her nose from a breathing tube. Pat had to support her all the way, and still, she almost fell. But her face lit up when Pat pointed, and when Dolores tried to sneak up and take a picture, she pointed to the camera and said, "Take one picture of me like this, and I'm coming for you!"

After a week, Tiffany was nursing MJ, and in six weeks, she was back home. She trained with Pat in the studio, using the rails along the walls for support as she relearned how to walk, and "sitting in the crazy" on the floor, only Tiffany broke the silence to talk about her thoughts and memories. "I feel like I'm reading a book with the pages out of order, and no table of contents," she said after a week. "I can remember all these things, but I'm not sure how they go together... except with you. I can even remember the day we first met, you know, back at Von's wedding, when I was with Tommy and you were dating Nikki. Do you remember that? What I remember is... after... Tommy said there was someone better for you."

The weeks passed, long and grueling. The baby cried a lot, Tiffany fell a lot, and she cursed at Pat a lot. They also made love a lot, more often than not at Tiffany's insistence, and she was especially foul with him after. "I feel like I should hate you," she told him in one of her less unpleasant moments. "You did this to me. You did all of this to me. And the worst part is... without you and MJ... I would have been gone a long time before any of this. I was ready to go, Pat, I was going to do it after I had you. The first time I got you in bed was supposed to be my last fling. But then I woke up feeling different, and I had to wait just to be sure... You fuckin saved my life, Pat, and sometimes, I could fuckin hate you just for that."

At last, it was their anniversary, not of their marriage but of that dinner at Von's. They held a dinner for the extended family, without saying why. They set up a dining table right in the studio, and the affair was as happy as could be hoped for under the circumatances. Pat retired early to put MJ to bed, and Tiffany excused herself to follow him. She listened at the door, and heard him reciting his fairy tale. She listened right up to the last line, "not happily ever after, but doing their best to make each other happy, one day at a time."

Pat stepped out of the baby's room, and Tiffany could tell he knew she had been listening. "Pat, you read that to me before, didn't you?" she said. "When I was asleep, right? I... I actually remembered the ending, before you got to it." They embraced.

"You make me happy," Pat said.

"You make me happy, too."

The next morning, Pat woke up alone in bed. He arose, carefully and quietly, following a faint sound from the baby's room. He was right to the door before he was sure of what he was really hearing: "One two three, one two three... duh dah dah dah..."

Then he peered through the slightly open door, and beheled Tiffany, holding MJ in her arms and occasionally freeing a hand to steady herself against the crib as she slowly went through the steps of a waltz.

"One day at a time," Pat murmured as he returned to bed. "One day at a time..."


End file.
